ENGAGE, SUSTAIN, RINSE, REPEAT

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Summary

Since its launch in 2003, Garnier Fructis has been a favorite hair care brand among millennials aged 18-32. However, Garnier and its parent company L’Oreal were becoming increasingly concerned that this core customer base was growing up and growing out. To keep its most valuable purchaser and influencer groups loyal, Garnier enlisted AMP to deepen engagement and more closely align its brand with the passions its customer base valued most.

Here’s how we developed a massive experiential footprint at the nation’s hottest music festivals to drive trial and build loyalty among Garnier’s core consumers.

Our Roles

Experiential

Technology Partner

Negotiation Sampling

Creative Production

Sponsorships

Challenge

We knew the most effective way to reach our audience would be by creating a campaign that would get Garnier products directly into the hands of consumers and demonstrate their value in a credible and relatable way. However, research showed that hair care products are most often tested at home – away from the reach of immersive brand interactions. Overcoming this obstacle would require us to speed up the typical trial timeline by devising new ways for consumers to test Garnier’s new products directly on-site.

Insights

To identify the most viable opportunities for immersive brand engagement, we took a deep dive into the millennial mindset, rigorously studying their motivations and interests. Not surprisingly, music and fashion emerged as prevailing passions, supported by a quest for style, self-expression, and individuality as central priorities. Armed with this knowledge, we set our sights squarely on the quintessential intersection of fashion and music in contemporary millennial culture: large-scale music festivals.The disconnect between the hottest new music and styles on display and the often primitive campsite facilities at these festivals created a gap which Garnier could fill.

Solution

#GARNIERMUSIC: STRIKING A CHORD OF CREDIBILITY

To reach the audience of over 13 million consumers aged 18-24 who attend major music festivals each year, we created #GarnierMusic, an innovative product immersion experience at five of the nation’s hottest festivals: Bonnaroo, Coachella, Big Barrel, Firefly, and iHeartRadio.

#GarnierMusic provided festival-goers with a shareable, lasting experience, designed for full brand immersion with direct on-site product sampling that included free hair-washing and styling.

Garnier Music Salon

At the heart of our program, we provided something all festival fans crave – a cool hair wash and hot new style, delivered via a multi-sensory experience that maximized brand immersion: The Garnier Salon.

Over the course of these three-day festivals, our 40'x40' custom-built, fully-enclosed Garnier Salon provided on-site hair washes, color consultations, and styling by professional stylists, using Garnier products, for up to 80-90 concertgoers at a time. To manage the crowds that would start forming as early as 7:00 AM, we developed a sophisticated digital queue system that ensured a seamless, hassle-free brand experience.

The Salon experience also allowed attendees to ‘Rock Their Style’ socially via photo activations and social integration on-site.

Shower Sampling

Given the nature of camping-based festival weekends, on-site showers are always in hot demand. So, Garnier took over all showers on the grounds at each of the five festivals during the dirtiest of days, providing free product upon entrance and exit, thus allowing every consumer who showered to directly experience Garnier products.

Festival Survival Kits

We also distributed festival survival kits to festivalgoers, featuring sample product and free branded swag, like sunglasses, bandanas, and hair ties, to support festival style. The kits were sampled to artists, VIPs, and early arrivals at the hair-washing queue, and were also seeded socially to contest winners online.

Self-Style Stations

For concertgoers rushing between catching their favorite music acts, we set up Garnier self-style stations throughout each festival. These mini-stations enabled attendees to quickly touch up their looks using Garnier’s hottest styling products, while the brand benefited from engagement across the entire festival footprint.

VIP Artist Sampling

We built credibility and relevance with our audience by partnering with notable artists like ToveLo and Phoebe Ryan to style their looks for their festival performances, while also giving select consumers VIP access throughout the weekend.

Paid Media Partnerships

We further leveraged artist relationships with ToveLo, Tori Kelly, and Phoebe Ryan by aligning with audience-relevant media outlets like MTV, VH1, and Fuse to capture and seed on-site content and interviews.

Influencer Sampling

Before, during, and after each festival weekend, we partnered Garnier with beauty and style influencers like @imjennim and @happilygrey to seed product, encourage reviews, and engage followers. Bloggers and vloggers visited the on-site Garnier Salon to chat with fans, get their hair styled, and capture content for their online fan bases.

Retail Integration

We helped Garnier establish unique pre-event partnerships with Walgreens to drive trial and purchase at retail. Our unique POS displays and aisle end-caps promoted online sweepstakes that would send grand prize winners on a VIP trip to one of the festivals, while providing free product gift bags to thousands of winners. These giveaways also included coupons to drive purchase at retail.

The Personal Care and Beauty Brigade

Across and beyond the entire campaign footprint, we helped Garnier support a multi-year free recycling program with TerraCycle that offered opportunities for attendees to recycle their hair care sample packets safely on-site. Recycled packets that were upcycled by TerraCycle were transformed into new products such as benches, backpacks and totes. To further drive home the partnership, we placed upcycled benches made from previous Garnier products near Garnier Salons for attendee seating while they waited for their hair wash and style appointments.

Results

Our #GarnierMusic program outperformed all expectations, proving to be one of the brand’s most successful activations to date. It was embraced by fans as the most popular destination at each of the festivals it visited, and cited as a “not-to-miss” destination by numerous blogs and publications.

The program also helped expand the brand’s presence beyond on-site festivals, arming consumers across the nation with not only product, but added-value content and access to the festival experience from afar.